CS 71 
.D437 
1901 
Copy 1 



fl GROUP OF MY 



ANCESTRAL DAHES 



OP THE 



COLONIAL PERIOD, 



BY 



MRS. r\ATE DER05SET MEARES. 



**In Doinino ConfidoJ* 



NASH BROS., 

BOOK AND COMMERCIAL PRINTERS, 

G0LD8B0R0, N. C. 



c 



ilpil 



n GROUP OF MY 



ANCESTRAL DAHES 



OF THE 



COLONIAL PERIOD. 



BY 

MRS. F^ATE DEROS5ET MEARE5. 



"In Domino Confido." 



NASH BROS., 

BOOK AND COMMEKCIAI, PRINTERS, 

GOI.DSBORO, N. C. 






"b 



^) 



5 37^3 

'6 S- 



A Group of My Ancestral Dames 



(S OK TIIK 



Colonial Period. 



AN HISTORICAL PAPER READ P>E1-()RE THE N. C. SOCIETY 
OF COLONIAL DAMES, BY MRS. KATE DeROSSET MEARES, 
PRESIDENT, MARCH, 14, 11)01. 



M'^^mhcrs uf Ihc Xorlh Carolina Society of Colonial Dames. 
Ladies (uul Gcnl/cnicii : 

Tlie X;itioii;il ('(Hiiici! df tlic Soeictv of Colonial Dames 
of America, tln'ougli its ('(uiimitrce on Colonial Study and 
Historical Research, has made it ohligatory upon each State 
Society to use every effort to gather from private records and 
i:nj)ublished documents such data of the lives, manners, and 
customs of Colonial Ancestors as may enrich the historian's 
material or become the basis of interesting biography. 

Jn accordance Avirli this demand the Historical C^ircles of 
th(! North Carolina Dames will endeavor to furnish a series 
cf papers, the initial number of which 1 am to offer you to- 
night. It consists of extracts from the unpublished "Annals 
of the DeRosset Family," put together ])riHiarily for the en- 
tertainment of the children of our own household. Thev 
niake so simple a story that I could hardly have ventured to 
present it to you, but that it tells of some of the earliest set- 
tlers of the Cape Fear section, and so may not be wholly de- 
^'oid of interest. • 

The gifted authoress (a) of a popular historic no\-el of the 
day quotes John Rolfe as prophesying thus: "Those who 
come after us will not look too curiouslv into the lineaii'e of 
tliose to whom a nation owes its birth." From our ])oint of 
^'iew this sounds as though intended as an ironical thrust at 
that much-storied pioneer of old Virginia, whose descendants 
(ive as the sands of the sea for multitude ; but, if the story be 
true, our John was indeed a false prophet, or, at best, a mon- 
umental example of a prophet without honor in hi- own coun- 
try and among- his own kindred; for the sons and daughters 
of his own \'ir<iinia are in no wise loath to seek ancestral 



(a) "To Have and to Hold," by Mary Johnstone. 



honors, and among them all, who are wont to claim the proud- 
est })edigTee, if not that nohle host of descendants who sprang" 
from his marriage with the Royal Princess Pocahontas ! 
John Alden of those same olden times, is known to fame by 
the gentle hint of his piqnante Priscilla that he might "speak 
for himself" — it might have added another feature to John 
Bolfe's historic cap, if his lady Rebekah had whispered him 
a kindly warning not to speak for her posterity. 

The age in which we live is one of restless energy and eag- 
er rush to satisfy the needs of daily life, or to grasp its pass- 
iiv^' pleasures, and scant time has been spared for studying 
the annals of the jjast — but they who do not think it worth 
their wiiile sometimes to give a thought to those to whom they 
owe their very being, are like him who, Shakespeare says, 
had no music in his soul. ''The motions of their spirit are 
dull as Xight and their affections dark as Erebus." 

But inspired perhaps by love of country, or pride in our 
material prosperity and greatness, we seem at last to have 
v.-akened to the importance of recalling our ancestors, and 
from all sides comes the question ''Who were they who laid 
the beginnings of so great a Nation ?" Genealogical research 
has shown that long indifference and neglect have shadowed 
our National honor in that so many of the heroes (and hero- 
ines) of those early days lie in unknown graves — their very 
names forgotten or obliterated from history. 

A primarv dutv of the distinguished Societv to which we 
have the honor to belong, is to share the noble work of pre- 
serving ancient landmarks and relics, and of rescuing from 
o])livion the memory of our ancestors who bore their part in 
the founding and upbuilding of this Union of Sovereign 
States — especially of those of our own good Commonwealth. 
We surely cannot be content simply to trace our own genea- 
logical lines but should contribute to National fame such 
records as we possess of noteworthy men and women of those 
olden times of which our own title is a perpetual reminder. 
It was their heroic virtues that made the wilderness they 
f>Miii(l to l)l<tss()m as the rose, and to become a fair habitation 
for us who now enjoy its bountiful inheritance. Surely, 

"Theirs were deeds which should not pass away 
And names which must not wither." 



S(\ iis We enter u]>()ii ;i new eentun' of our Country's his- 
tory, let us each brini;- oui- spri^- of ''rosemary for remem- 
brance," and pausing turn a backwni'd lihiiiei^ down the h)ng 
vista of past years, if perchance we may catch a glimpse of 
some of those of the long ago whose names at least may be 
familiar to us through oft-told tales of later generations. 
AVe will be surprised to find a most inviting field of retrospect 
iind research ever widening before us. One by one, emerg- 
ing from the dark mists of the past, they come before our 
mental vision until at last we see a stately procession of dames 
and sires- — yet how diverse in appearance, how varied in 
nationality, for "God sifted manv nations that lie might 
bring good seed into this wilderness." The flash lights of 
legend and tradition illumine them with vivid reality, and 
they appear to us almost as living pictures. Imagination is 
tempted to ^veave around them many a romance of love and 
devotion, of chivalry and heroism, but our spirit of loyalty 
and afl'ection glorifies them with interest far exceeding that 
of fiction, and impresses us with a feeling akin to reverent 
awe. Let us then portray them upon the walls of memory, 
that fixed there, they may abide with us in perpetual remem- 
bj-ance. * * * '* * * 

1 am to have the pleasure to-night of introducing to you 
a group uf my own ancestral dames of the Colonial period — 
l^romising no dramatic narrative — nor thrilling tale of ad- 
venture — nor deeds of glory worthy of the historian's pen. 
jMy records are few and I do not mean to wander into fields 
of n>nuince. Theirs is a simple story of dutv nobly done, 
and ti'ials bravely bnriie, and would not be worth the telling 
but thai it may ene(»urage others of you whose family arch- 
ixQS, if searched into, uuiy bi-ing to light records of more 
general interest and great(M- historic value than mine. 

But, though acknowledging my subject to be of purely 
personal interest, I utterly repudiate the charge of egotism, 
advanced as T am told by some hyixM-ei-itic, who may not have 
leai'ued ilic joy of "a woi'thy pi'ide in worthy ancestry." T 
make no apology for my Dames, feeling sure that tlu> half 
tjcore or more of the X. C. Society, who with me ehiim lineal 
descent from them will be interested, while as many more 
oi von. allie(l to tlunn and us bv ties of kindred scarce less 



6 

dear, limy find more pleasure than they anticipate in making 
the aeipiaintance of these ladies of the olden time. 

My story opens in the year 1671 — for I may not ante-date 
tJie Colonial i:>eriod — and the scene is in S. Eastern France. 
-By a striking" coincidence of time another ancestor of many 
of us in a far distant locality, is beginning to lay the founda- 
tions of a new country. Sir John Yeamans, a colonist of 
Barbadoes, had a few vears before been Knighted bv Charles 
II, (7>) — appointed Landgrave and Governor of the County 
of Clarendon ("near Cape Fear") and commissioned to ex- 
plore and plant a colony therein. With his Barbadian fol- 
loAvers in the year KiBo he sailed into the Cape Fear, ob- 
tained a royal grant of an immense tract of land and estab- 
lished a settlement a few miles below the present site of Wil- 
mington. Tempted however by strong inducements, he 
shortly left this settlement and afterwards went to South 
( 'arolina where, this yery year, under the direction of his 
friend and ])atron Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper — Earl of 
Shr.ftesbury, — he was engaged in laying out the City of 
('h.arleston. (c) Later he became first governor of the 
Province of S. (\ and it is believed he never returned to the 
Cape Fear, llow strangely are the warp and woof of his- 
tory wovcni in the mighty loom of Providence — as, witness^ 
ourselves, in whose veins flows mingled the blood of this Eng- 
lish adventurer and of the Huguenot Lords of Languedoc — - 
representatives of two great nations of the Old World. Can 
any one say why these oui- ancestors should not be as honor- 
al)iy numbered among the makers of our Nation as are the Pil- 
grim Fathers of New England — or Penn's Quakers, or the 
Cavaliers of Old Virginia and Marvland \ 

The ancestral home of the dePossets was in beautiful Pro- 
vence — the land df the melodious Langue d'Oc, — the home 
of the ti'dnbaddur and minstrel; of chivalrv and romance; 
whose vine-clad hciglits and fragrant rose-gardens were types 
of its \aliaiit Kiiigiits and lovely women; that land so beauti- 
ful that Greece in licr palmiest days conhl ])oast no Colony so 
fair; where Poman legions fouglif bravely for possession; 

(6) Sir .Tohn was Knighted by Charles II, in KiGl in recompense of ser- 
vices rendered to tlie Ilonse of Stnart by iiis father who was High Sheriff 
of Bristol — in which canse his life vvas sacriliced 

(e) McCrady's "S. C. under the Proprietary government." — p. 162. 



wliose soil was trodden liv iiivii;i<l Imsts of Crusaders, and en- 
riched liv rlic ItliKid (if ( 'lirist iiiii iiiartyrdoiii and 1 1 iii>-iienot 
persecution. 

Let us g'o back some twn Imndrcd and thirty years and pic- 
ture to ourselves a scene in its little City of Uzes — (Caesar's 
ancient T'cetia.) It was the afternoon of Feln-nary lOtli^ 
1671. The soft blue skv of that sweet hnid and ilic l)ahny 
breezes of the IMediterranean seeaned never so enchantina' to 
tije favored (incs wIki wcncU'd tlicir way t<> participate in au 
occasion of unusual interest to the social wnrhh It was the 
wedding of two pronnncnt in('nd)ers of society — the one a 
hiffh-born beautiful woman, the dthcr a niilitarv ofhcer of 
noble birth and rank. The "so-called ('hui-cli of the Tie- 
formed" (so called in the document) was ])acked with the 
elite of the City — many of whom were "folhiwers of the Xew 
Religion.'' The land was at peace, for the Kdict of Nantes 
still held good and as yet there was no ruud)le of that awful 
j)i)litico-rcligious upheaval which was shortK- to shake the 
foundations of France, and banish from their homes "50,000 
families of the best blood of the Kingdom." The Huguenot 
Priest in sacred vestments and strr)ng in the sanctity of a 
pure and much-tried faith, stood before the altar waiting the 
coming of the bridal party. . 

The youthful Seigneur L<iuis de Rosset. (or deRoussay 
as he would call it) was an othcer in the Regiment of Xnvarre 
in the service of Louis XIV. Descended from a long line 
of noble ancestry, "distinguished in the military annals of 
the kingdom from the <lays of the first Ci'usade." he was the 
son of "the nohlc Louis de Rosset, Doctor en hroits" — a 
man of letters, and of legal distinction. The bride was the 
Lady Gabrielle de (londin. "grand-daughter and lieiress of 
the late Antoine de Fontfroide, Treasurer of the King's do- 
main in the Seneschaussee de Ximes." Fathers and gi-and- 
fathers had all passed away — but the ladies de Gondin and de 
('assagnes were jiresent, the lattci- playing the role (d' fairy 
god mothei'. in cndfiwing her fa\di'itc graml-child with abun- 
dant worldly possessions. Otficial authority had sanctioned 
the marriage (piai]itl\- dcdai-ing it to be '■urdaincd i'oy the 
glory of God and for the increase of the human race." ^ 



* The original mnrringc ('(iiitiact is in my ])0?8espinii. 



8. 

The ceremony performed, the wedding bells rung merrily, 
as the gay party acompanied the young couple to their home, 
doubtless to ''dance the happy hours away" in mirth and jol- 
lity, for those people of Provence were ever a merry, joy- 
ous race. The military attendants of the Captain added to 
the brilliancy of the scene, uniformed in all the pomp and 
bravery of war, and wearing many a well earned decoration 
and medal of honor — (for France had no more valued and 
loyal servants than her brave Huguenot soldiers.) The strik- 
ing costumes of the Louis Quatorze period set off to advan- 
tage the stately grace and beauty of the ladies — their part- 
ners in the courtly dance. For four happy years the newly 
wedded pair kept honey moon in their baronial home of 
Perpignan, and then peace and happiness departed, for the 
clarion of war summoned the Captain again to his country's 
service in foreign lands and he was seldom at home any more, 
until at last the great catastrophe of the Revocation forced him 
into permanent exile. It is not for us to follow his subse- 
quent career — his flight to Holland and service with William 
of Orange fighting in Ireland for the Protestant succession iu 
Great Britain. The documents show that it was always 
honorable — that ho was a naturalized citizen of England and 
died in London in 1725. Kindly influences enabled the 
Lady Gabrielle to dwell in peace at her own home for many 
years after his departure and tradition tells a pathetic story 
(well autlienticated), of her sight being wept away through 
much sorrow and constant fear. In total blindness, waiting, 
with ever increasing hopelessness, the return of the long ab- 
sent husband, liope at length sunk into despair, and when 
after near 20 years of separation he was restored to her, her 
soul still refused to be comforted, until at length the assur- 
ance of liis identity was made plain to her and from excess 
of joy slic fainted in his arms. (The story would not be 
complete witliout this conventional ending!) 

Gabrielle cannot ti'iily l)e called a Colonial Dame of Amer- 
ica for she did not live to know this land of her children's 
adoption. Lnt slio belongs to the ( \)lonial period — being 
an exiled waif she had no country of her own — and as the 
v.'j'fe of the first delvosset. Huguenot refugee and the fore- 
motliei' of so many of us, I could not forbear relating all that 
is known of hei- ])ersonality — hoping that I have not pre- 



Slimed too far n})on your interest in the brief but toucliin*; 
storv (pf her striui<>('ly checkered life. 

It was her "only son" — Afiiiand John (h'liosset I, who was . 

the lluiiucnot ininii<>rant to ('arolina and founder of the 1/ 
American branch of rlic family. {educated first in "famous 
scliools of Kuiiland and IJcl^iuni/" he rtnally entered tlie cele- 
brated University of Basel, Switzerland, where in 1720 he 
was graduated with honor, and the degree of Doctor of Medi- 
cine. He married in Switzerland "a Lady of the noble House 
•of Ucetia," whose mime is lost to us bv tlie destruction of 
some of the family records — but we have reason to think it was 
Madeleine. As the diploma — still extant — tells us that he 
^•.'as also "of the same noble house of Ucetia," thev must have 
been kinsfolk and she, like himself, was probably a refugee 
from persecution. At some period of peace, they returned 
temporarily to France and two children, Gabrielle II and 
Louis Henry, were born to them in ]\Iontpelier before they 
finall\- bade adieu to their native land and went to England 
to join lii> old military father. While in London^ — in 1726 
— their third child was born — ^our ancestor Moses John de- 
liosset I. It was probably in 1735 when the boy was about 
nine years old, that the Doctor, induced by circumstances 
unknown to us, set sail with his wife and their three children 
for these distant shores. AVhv did not tradition, or records, 
hand down to us the name of the ship on which that long 
and perilous voyage was made, and give us details of the 
trials they must have suifered % Such records dD exist — 
notably a letter of a French Huguenot lady of S. C. — Judith 
Manigault. ( V/ ) That stands to me as an example of what 
those dear kinsfolk of ours may have endured. She tells of 
a ten weeks vovau'e on a wretched little vessel — with untold 
licri'ors of pestilence on board, and death at sea — of mutiny 
and famine — of storm and ship-wreck, and of dire poverty 
and hard labor after reaching port. It makes one shudder 
to think of all this and coiiti'ast it with the luxurious ap])oint- 
ments, and safety of the iiiodei'n ( )('e;iiidiner. Landing we 
know not where, oiii' little family at length settled in the ham- 
let of New Liverpool — an insigniticant village of perhaps 50 
or 60 families — but incorporated in 1739 by Gov. Johnston 

(d) Ramsey's History of S. C. 



10 

under the name of Wilmington in compliment to his friend 
and patrnii Spencer Compton — Earl of Wilmington. 

The province of the Carolinas was fortunate — almost 
iini(ine — in the character of its earlv settlers. Unlike those 
of other Colonial States, onr records tell of no bands of needy 
adventurers — no outcasts of society — no cargoes of inden- 
tured convicts — nor ship loads of women in search of hus- 
bands. Mam' of the immigrants were ladies and gentlemen 
of education and social rank ; many of these from the West 
Indian Colonies of Great Britain — peoj^le of means, seeking 
still better fortunes in the American El Dorado — with great 
grants of land and retinues of slaves and retainers, building- 
substantial homes and making them famous far and near 
for good living and generous hospitality. Here too on the 
Cape Eear was the })alace of the Royal Governors — -around 
whose mimic court gathered all that was best of Provincial 
Society. 

Under sm-li unusual advantages of environment our Rose 
of Provence was transplanted to the sunny shores of Carolina, 
and Madeleine deRosset became one of the first Colonial 
iHimes of the Cape Fear section. The white plume of Xa- 
\'arre under which our gallant fore-fathers had fought for 
God and the right, and the lilies of France, won for their 
shield by loyalty and valor, would henceforth be but sacred 
memories, but the trustfid legend of their escutcheon, "In 
Domino Coniido," none could take away — it would be theirs 
and ilicii- cliildi'cus children's for guidance and strength in 
days of ti'ial yet to couie. 

Only ten vears had chipsed since the grand-sons of Sir 
■loim ^'eaiujius (tlic Ajodrc Iti-otlici-^ ) lutd conK> to the Cape 
bear to I'eclaiiii I lie great possessions abandoned l)y their- 
grand-father near .")() years before. They found the country 
i.u 172^ utterly wiiliouf a white iidudjitant. 'idie population 
increased slowly in the tdwiis. I5i'unswick (^') was the chief 
setleiuent and was surrouudetl by the extensive estates of 
wealthy planters. 

|)r. de Kosset deleruii ue(| dii einiiiug fai'lher up the i'i\'er 
and fixed his residence in W ilm i iigloii ou a lot on Second 
feireet between Mai'ket ;iud I'l'iiieess, whei-e the old ]\rcRee 

{e) "A Colonial ( )liiccr:in(l I lis Times," l)y Col. A M. Waiidcll —p. 209, 



11 

lioiisc iiiiw stniuls uiul where Win. Hooper, the sig'ner of tlie 
Declaration of Independence, afterwards lived. (/") How 
lonelv and desolate, how crnde and roniih and comfortless 
nnist all have seemed to the daintily nnrtnred daiic'htei- of 
la b(.'lle France. Conld we wonder if she had succumbed to 
the trials of her situation and ])ined in homesick loni>ini>- for 
the luxuries of Old World civilization i But the brave 
Huguenot spirit had learned to endure hardshi]i and to rise 
(o tiie duties of life, and tradition represents her to us as al- 
\v;!vs the refined and cultivated ladv — the gentle and courteous 
friend — the kind and l)enevolent neighbor-^ the beloved and 
a<lniii'ed of nil who knew her. She was also of exceeding" 
beauty — her j)ortrait "was among the relics saved from the 
wreck of the Old French home, and was preserved for more 
than a century. I have been told by some who had seen it, 
that her beautif\il features were reproduced in those of her 
lovely great grand-daughter, Polly Toomer. (It may be 
that some of her daughters now with us, may claim their 
aristocratic type of beauty as part of the inheritance of tliii 
f.'ii)' French ancestress!) 

The Doctor's profession was a busy one. A large labor- 
ious country ju'actice took him much from home — while his 
wife was occu})ied with the varied household cares of do- 
mestic life in a new and undeveloped country, striving always 
for the welfare and happiness of those she loved so well. 

She lived to see her husband an honored, useful citizen of 
ihf^ infant town — influential in its municipal councils — sit- 
ting in its courts as Judge of the quorum — successful in his 
noble healing art; and respected and esteemed by the whole 
comninnity. 

The eminent position of her elder son Louis must also have 
rejoiced her lu>art. Fleeted at an early age to the Provincial 
AsReml)ly he was soon elevated to the King's Council, and 
"continued in that office for 25 years, until the end of the 
Tfoyal Government.'' 

The C^olonial Records of X. C bear ample testimony to 
tjie vahu^ of his services, in the nntiring efforts to pi-oniote 
tlie welfare and best interest of Cliurrli as well as State — 



(/) The unpretentious dwelling jMcfured in Lo.oping's Fielrl Book a.s the 
home of \Vm. Hooper, one of the N. C. "Signer?." wap in all probahility 
the house originally built on the same lot by Dr. A. J. DeRosset. 



12 

(for during their English sojonrn the family had become 
devoted adherents of the Established Church.) Feeling con- 
scientiously bound by his repeated oaths of office Mr. deRos- 
set in the Revolution remained loyal to the Crown, was ''ban- 
ished from the Province on pain of death if he returned," 
and died in exile in London in 1786. 

His wife was Margaret Walker (g). She died a year 
before him, in the grief and loneliness of enforced and pro- 
longed separation. They left no children. 

The only daughter of Dr. Armand John and Madeleine 
dpRosset, Gabrielle II, married John DuBois and was also a 
Colonial Dame of IST. Carolina — as was her daughter Magda- 
lene (DuBois), Mrs. James Walker — but I leave it to theh' 
descendants of our Societv to tell their storv — and there is 
much interesting material concerning them waiting to engage 
the interest of some of their numerous daughters. 

The younger son Moses John deRosset adopted the profes- 
sion of his father — and w^as the second of five successive gen- 
erations of Doctors deRosset, who for 175 years adorned the 
annals of the profession in North Carolina. 

All too soon for the happiness of the family the sweet 
Huguenot mother fell asleep in 1746 and was laid to rest 
beneath the apple trees in her own home garden. There af- 
ter many days the beloved husband of her youth w^as laid 
beside her, and there they still rest in peace, long since mould- 
ered into dust, but ever waiting for the Dav of Resurrection ! 

Dr. Armand was however to have another and far different 
experience of conjugal felicity before he followed her ^-n H^e 
land of rest. About five years after her death he raised to 
the dignity of Colonial Dame a second IMrs. deRosset — choos- 
ing for tliat lionor Elizabeth Catharine Bridgen (h) an Eng- 
li-li\vomaii of masterful mind and character — a striking con- 
trast to the gentle lady of Ilcetia, her predecessor; yet a lady 
by birth, of fine literary attainments, and the intimate friend 
and neighbor of ]\Irs. John Burgwin — herself a native of 
Bristol. Encland. The Doctor survived this union but a fe^v 



(fj) James and Margaret Walker were children of Robert and Ann 
Montgomery Walker — emiffratr-d from Ireland in 173S. They were kins- 
men perhaps, if not descendants of the "Fighting Bishopof Londonderry." 

(/() Daughter of an Alderman of London, and sister of Edward Brid- 
gen, whose commercial lionse carried on extensive trade with Carolina. 



1'-^ 



o 



vears and she then retired to her country seat ''The Chinese 
j'emple" adjoining- the Hermitage, where during the Revo- 
bition she enjoyed many a "disli" of the forbidden tea, with 
which she seemed to have been bountifully supplied by '^spec- 
ial permission of the authorities." She managed her hand- 
some estate with ability and profit, and some clever extant 
letters tell of her doing the same for the Hermitage in Mr. 
Burgwin's absence. She died before the war was over at her 
summer home at Masonboro Sound in 1778, leaving no chil- 
dren to perpetuate her virtues, or to be interested in her me- 
moirs, so we will dwell no longer on her. 

With the garrulity of age I fear I have already spun out 
lay story to the limit of your patience, but bear with me a lit- 
tle longer that I mav introduce the last of mv Dames, the first 
of English parentage. 

About the middle of the 18th century there came to Wil- 
mington from the island of Jamaica "an eminent lawyer," 
]\rarniaduke Jones by name. His wife had been "the widow 
of a Scotch gentleman of note in the plantations" — a Mr. 
Ivy — and with her two daughters Mary and Ann Ivy, con- 
stituted the family. These young ladies were heiresses in 
their own right, which, added to the attractions of well-edu- 
cated and accomplished gentle women, could not fail to draw 
many admirers and suitors for their favor. Ann, the young- 
er, married James Moore, son of the Maurice Moore who 
founded Brunswick, and afterw^ards a distinguished officer 
in the Continental line ; and Mary, the elder sister, in 1759 
became the wife of Dr. Moses John deRosset. He was then 
about 33 years of age^ — his early youth and manhood had 
been so full of adventure that had it been his instead of her 
story I was to tell, I might have given you a thrilling episode. 
I think he may have won his bride by "oft told tales of mov- 
ing accidents by field and flood, of being captured by the in- 
dolent foe and sold to slavery" (for all this was indeed true) 
and moving her first to pity — love, so near akin, grew on 
a Dace. 

He had been an officer in Col. Innes' Regt. sent in 1754 
by Xorth Carolina to aid her sister colony Virginia to repel the 
Indian and French Invasions. (These were the first troops 
raised bv anv Colonv for service outside of its own borders.) 



14 ' 

The Doctor built for his bride a brick house on the corner of 
two principal streets' — Market and Second — adjoining his 
father's residence. The "Unlucky Corner," as it now ap- 
pears makes it ditHeult for us to believe that it was in its 
day a handsome dwelling — perhaps the iinest in the town — 
but, the fact that after 150 years it has outlived all others of 
its time, tells at least of honest material and workmanship. 
Alas ! that all our old landmarks should fall into decay ! 

The oppressive measures of the British government were 
now beginning to stir the resentful opposition of the Colonies. 
Public meetings were held for devising means of relief and 
evading the unjust imposition of taxes. Committees of 
Safety were organized by the ])atriot party. Strong men 
were placed in positions of honor and trust and it was a strik- 
ing evidence of the esteem and confidence of his fellow citi- 
zens, that Dr. deRosset, a peaceable practitioner of a quiet 
profession, should at such a critical time be elected to the 
office of Mayor of the town. 

The story of resistance to the stamp act at the port r 
Brunswick by the people of the lower Cape Fear, is well known 
to lis — though the national historian has been too apt to un- 
der-rate or ignore it. Unlike the far-famed Boston tea party, 
it was no midnight raid of a few men to destroy a cargo of 
tea — but eight years before that much vaunted epoch of Unit- 
ed States history our men of N. C. rose in their might to as- 
sort their rights and liberties as British subjects — in broad 
daylight, in military array, under the King's own flag they 
defied the j)Ower of Great Britain — forced the Stamp Mas- 
ter to resign his oflice and bearding the representative of the 
British lion in his palatial den, successfully resisted the land- 
ing of the hated stamps from the King's own ships of war. 

Wilmington did her part nobly — sent a contingent of 
troops — prohibited the trans^Dortation of supplies needed for 
tlie ships — and after all was over addressed a letter to Gov. 
Trvon protesting against any lack of loyaltv to the Roval 
government, but asserting theii- right to resist oppression and 
closing witli ;i sentence which McBee, our local historian 
says, is worthy of llain|t(lcii or ( '(ibliniu. It runs thus, '"^Mod- 
(■i';ili<in ceases t<> Ix' a \irtu(' when the liberty of the British 
subject is in danger." 



IT) 

riuit Icttci' \\:is indited l)_v MiiNor dcRosset as Chaii'inan of 
the ( 'oiiiu'il (/) and his dcsccnidiints slinuld rcincinlicr it with 
pride — fur it lias A'ortli Carolina's tirst true rini;' of I.ilx'rty 
which eiilniiiiatcd t(>ii years later in the Aleeklenhnrii' Decla- 
ration of iiide])endence, ^Mav ilOth, 177."). 

Onr lady mayoress must have felt her heart heat })roudly 
at her hushand's honorable patriotic fnlfillnient of the respon- 
sihilities of his position. .Ma\- we not picture liei' as one of 
tlijit thronii' of nu'n, women and ehildi'en who met the hoat of 
the stani{)shij) Dilioeuee as it a])pi-oaclied the town mounted 
on a cart, and in jubliant procession paraded the trophy of 
victory through the streets. And then at night when that 
memorable day closed with a general illumination of the town 
we may be sure the Mayor's house was conspicuously ablaze, 
and the young wife felt happy and proud in the consciousness 
that her husband was indeed a hero ! 

But their married life, beginning so auspiciously was brief 
— lasting only ei£>ht vears. On (^hristmas dav 17<'»7 Dr. 
de Rosset was cut down in the })rime of life and was buried 
two days later on his -ilst birthday — the only known male 
dcRosset down to the present generation who did not live to 
a ripe old age. Only two children blessed their union — 
my grand-father Dr. Armand John deRosset II, who was 
onlv six weeks old when he was left fatherless, and his sister 
Magdalen Mary — five years his senior — who married Mr. 
Henry Toonier, and has several representatives in our So- 
ciety who might well em])loy their clever pens in recording 
for our imitation the "unparallelled virtues" for Avhich the 
family pajDers say she was distinguished. 

Thus early inured to sorrow Mary Ivy henceforth devoted 
h.?]'self to the rearing and education of her children- — for this 
she was eminently fitted by her early opportunities for in- 
tellectual culture. Always a student of such literature as 
the times afforded, her mind was o])en to gras]) the problems 
of science as well as to enjoy lighter litei-ature. She was 
from the first interested in lier husband's professional ])Ui-- 
suits and under his instructions became so expert that he 
could, in his absence, safely entrust his patients to her care, 
and also the use of the surgical instruments. So when his 



((■) McRee's Memoirs of Dr. A. .1. DeRosset. 



IC) 

death left the town ill-sui^plied with competent physicians 
sho was ever ready to respond to calls^ — especially of the sick 
poor — taking constantly not only the physician's work bnt 
tliat of trained nurse — little dreaming that her labor of love 
and charity would develop into one of the noblest professions 
of the women of the next century. In climatic fevers she 
was very successful and also in inoculation for small-pox — 
vaccination being yet unknowai. It was doubtless from her 
lancet that her son received the virus that protected him from 
the dreaded scourge he so often had to deal with in his long- 
life. It was also to his Mother's surgical skill that he ow^ed 
the setting and cure of a broken collar bone in his boyhood. 

The clouds of war grew more and more threatening and the 
end of the Colonial period drew near. Lonely and unpro- 
tected w^as the little family, and Mrs. deRosset felt tliat for 
her children's sake it would 'be well for her to accept an offer 
of marriage from Mr. Adam Boyd. He was then the editor 
of the Cape Fear Mercury — the patriot organ — and an ac- 
complished scholar and gentleman. Mr. Boyd took a pater- 
nal interest in the children and gave valuable assistance in 
tlieir education, until he was called into military service. 
After the war he was active in the organization of the North 
Carolina Society of the C^incinnati — was its secretary, and 
after his ordination by Bishop Seabury to the Episcopal min- 
istry, was made its Brigade Chaplain. Mrs. deRosset's pre- 
iiuptial contract is on file in the Xew Hanover Court House, 
and according to the custom of the time, gives an inventory 
of her various possessions — articles of household furniture, 
silver-ware, servants, &c. 

Some of us may from our own experience in a measure 
realize the anxiety and distress of the mother and her chil- 
dren during the long j^ears (d' the Revolutionary war. At 
times they were forced to the refuge of her sister's (Mrs. 
(Jen. Moore's) home on the Xorth-East. Once Mrs. Moore's 
liOuse was bombarded by a British sloop of war, under suspic- 
ion of being a liarbor for disaffected patriots. 

Together they witnessed the cruel treatment of Cornelius 
Harnett, rlic popular idol of the Cape Fear, when, taken from 
a sick bod in Onslow County by Craig's marauders, he fell 
from exhaustion on the march, and was thrown across a 
horse's back "like a sack of meal," and thus brought into Wil- 



17 

■jiiingtoii, Avlid'c lie (li('(riii prisoii — ;i Iniuciitcd \'ictiin (tf ;in 
iinholv \v;ir. Sncli scenes Imd ;iii ciKlnriiiii' iiiflnence uixjii 
the lad Ariiiiind, fillinc,' liis soul with ilic s])ii-it of pure pa- 
triotism — so tliiit we are hardiv surprised t" \\\i^\ him when 
only 13 years old shoulder iuii' his musket ami, joining the 
piitriot forces, participating in a gallant tight at tiie Oaks. 
Lossing in his Field Book of tlie American Revohition says 
that "the vem'i'al)h' r)()ctor'" se\'en1y y(>ars hiler rchitcd to liini 
the interesting in(*i(h'iit, a(hling "it is wortiiy of attention 
and tlie local historian should not fail to put it upon record!'' 

When at last victory was won and ])eace hrooded '^n-er the 
land of the free and the home of the hrave," though families 
were broken and fortunes ruined, all hearts rejoiced at the 
l)irth of the ''Young Rei)ublic." Thenceforth ^Irs. Boyd's 
home was with her daughter, Mrs. Toomer — dutifully at- 
leiided by the loving care of that devoted child her last years 
were passed in peace, though sorely tried by total blindness. 
(Wonderful it is that sorrow and trouble so often put out the 
light of those windows of the soul ! ) She lived to see her 
beloved son Armand ha])])ily married and launched ou his 
remarkable ]u-ofessional career of seventy years ot active 
practice, and in ITDS soon after his tirst-born son came to 
perpetuate her husband's name, she passed in the odor of 
sanctity into the rest that remaineth for the people of God. 
To his dying-day my grand-father could not speak of his 
"venerated mother," as he always called her, but with sub- 
dued and reverent tone as of one mourning the recent depart- 
ure of the best beloved. 

As I forewarned you these ancestors of mine left no glo- 
i-inus deed to be recorded on tlie ])ages of the Nation's history, 
but none the less they were among the strong foundation 
stones of integrity and uprightness, of social law and ordei-, 
on which the great fabric of Christian civilization rests, and 
they 

"Were not of those who stoop and lie in wait 
For place or fortune, or for worldly state ; 
Their powers shed round them in the daily strife 
And mild concerns of ordinary life" 

The o-racious influence of blameless lives and kindiv lu^irts, 
(tnd duty nobly done ! 



JUL 19 1904 



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LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



021 549 472 A 



